Social Statement- Eugene Smith

I found this image to be very powerful and disturbing. This photograph was taken by W. Eugene Smith in 1972 and it resembles Ryoko Uemura holding her daughter, Tomoko, in a Japanese bath chamber. This was the most striking photo of this exhibition because it brought world attention to this sufferable disease that spread off the coast of Kyushu in Japan killing thousands of civilians. This disease, Minamata disease, is a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning. This poisoning was happening due to the methyl mercury industrial waste water that came from the Chisso Corporation’s chemical factory. The disease claimed the lives of so many civilians that had no chance against it, especially as the government and company did little to prevent the pollution and little to combat the disease. This photograph is a black and white image depicting two women in a bath tub. One of the woman is sitting upright looking down at the other person while holding them steady. The one being held, looks as though she cannot control her body movements. We can visibly see that her hands and feet are deformed and she looks as though she is having a seizure of some sort or is not able to control her facial expressions. At first glance, you see a person who looks to be in an enormous amount of pain being comforted by another person in a large bath tub. The subjects are faintly visible among the black background. The color of the subjects contrasts smoothly against the dark background and tub which creates a more effective and powerful image. This image disturbed me due to how severe the person is impaired after visibly seeing the deformity in the woman’s body and face. After reading the back story on the image, it broke my heart even further. The fact that this disease, that was created by a company’s pollution, caused this much pain and suffering to thousands of lives is unacceptable. This image was taken and published to inform the world of this corruption and despair going on in Japan at this time. The civilians were left to fight for themselves with no help or remorse from the government and corporation who caused the disease in the first place. This is a perfect example of an artist using his/her art to make a social statement in an effort to create change.